Grand Tetons

Click on the first image for full screen gallery viewing – enjoy!

Traveling across the U.S. for three months in a truck camper – why not? Summers are for exploration, and seeing the great northwest and all its wonderful National Parks and scenery beckoned – resistance was futile.

First stop in Jackson Hole was Pinedale, to visit family and relax after a long drive across the vast state of Wyoming. Uncle Tom had a lovely little park with a bridge and river across the way, perfect for stretching weary legs after driving!

Sketching with a few other folks from a weekend drawing workshop at the Teton Science School – we looked across the stream and there was a moose and her baby. We watched them for nearly an hour!

The Grand Tetons are my favorite range in all of the Rocky Mountains. Just south of Yellowstone National Park in northwest Wyoming, the park doesn’t get the attention it deserves, in my opinion. I sketched this with the Teton Science School group, looking across the meadow at a herd of buffalo. The Tetons were named by French trappers – Grand Titties!

Memorabilia in a FABULOUS display at the museum in Cody, Wyoming – where you buy a 3 day pass, with good reason. There are several museums here – one featuring Native American art & history, Western Art (they had many original Remingtons), Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show ephemera and an extensive collection of firearms. I’m partial to the Wild West show – I think I was one of the Perry sisters in a past life. LOVE their leather culottes!

Chief Crazy Horse statue outside in the atrium at the Whitney Museum – probably one of the most moving memorials I’ve seen. The inscription at the bottom of the statue reads that he “died defending his country.” I think that says it all.

Cody Wyoming is Rodeo country – with a rodeo every night during the summer months. The rodeo clowns do a lot of scary work, retrieving the cowboys and cowgals once they’ve been ejected from their ride. With kicking bulls and horses surrounding them, it’s no funny job!

Sweet little home in the little town of Red Lodge, Montana. Artistic license permits me to make the house lavender if I want to!

In the small rustic town of Virginia City are several classic buildings, including this quaint tinsmith shop. They also had some great authentic window displays in the old pharmacy and other buildings on the main drag. This little town was worth the diversion! The town’s old firetruck carries visitors through town and over the hillside to the old cemetery, too.

This narrow building in Whitefish, Montana couldn’t have been more than 10 foot wide, and YES it was this color!

Of course, wouldn’t you know it? The ONE day we are in town to see this gorgeous mansion, it was closed. Well, it was a beautiful summer day anyway.

Crossing over into British Columbia (Canada) now – I spied a small sign saying The Glass House on the left. Stop the truck! Gratefully, my partner complied and we got to tour this wonder. Built in the 1950′s by an undertaker for his wife – the ultimate in recycling. It was constructed of recycled embalming fluid bottles laid on their sides, with curving turrets and walls – it looked so “Disney-esque” The widow still lives there from September – spring, and the province runs tours of it all summer. It’s on Lake Kootenay near Creston, B.C.

Not far away from the Glass House was a little artist colony of interesting shops including a broom shop, pottery shop and weaving studio. Imagine a whole shop devoted to handmade brooms!

We camped along the shore of this lake for a week or more – nearby was Ainsworth hot springs, which is one of my favorite hot springs with caves and tunnels that you can “crawl” through on your hands in the warm water. Very mystical!

Beautiful view across the lake.

Back down to northeastern Washington state, the quaint town of Winthrop is a tourist mecca. Ironically, as I was taking this photo – I saw a couple of teens sitting on a sidewalk bench, and they looked familiar. Who is it but Rick Steve’s kids, Jackie & Andy. Small world! (See Italian Travel Adventure under Blogs)

On Whidbey Island not far from Seattle, the little village of Coupeville has a charming wharf and also a great Art Center, with classes all summer long!

A farmer has a great sense of humor – Flying Lessons – Rent a Broom!

A hillside overlooking the islands of the San Juans, a little known part of America.

If You’ve Ever Lived on an Island Poem, seen on the refrigerator of Whidbey Islander Sylvia, a gem of a lady that I had the pleasure to know.

Lime Kiln State Park Lighthouse in the San Juan islands of northern Washington state.

In the state of Washington now, just across the water from Canada…

A beautiful sculpture along the bay in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada), a tribute to the sea.

This is either the house of a master collector of kitsch or a retired propmaster!

Boathouses, or Floathouses here in Canada – it’d be an interesting life, but perhaps a bit damp and mildewy?

This cute little group of miniature ferries carried tourists across the bay to downtown Victoria – they had a synchronized performance on the water near the Empress Hotel, also.

The elegant Empress Hotel in Victoria B.C. with its floating airport and afternoon tea!

Built in the late 1800′s by Robert Dunsmuir to impress his wife and family with the great northwest – the poor fellow died before it was finished, and the house was nearly always inhabited by women – his wife & daughters. There was an awesome upper level billards room and an adjoining ballroom, with framed dance cards from their many parties. Sweet!

A dance card from 1906 from a Smith college ball.

On down to Issaquah, Washington to my longtime friend Patricia’s homestead. She had llamas, and one had given birth the week before we’d arrived. They named her Chai. Sweet. The llamas really were rather skittish, not warm and friendly like I’d imagined. Oh well.

Downtown Seattle, this landmark is always a “must visit” site for visitors to Seattle, the Pike Farmers Market. With flying fish and flowers and hand-crafted treats, it is a wonderful place to spend a day.

A hand-carved sign showing symbols of the northwestern native Americans, a wheel of salmon – seen in downtown Coupeville on Whidbey Island, Washington.

Aunt Jane & Uncle Jim’s country home on Whidbey Island – always feels like home to me. Boogie dog and his ball are always waiting for an unsuspecting kind person to THROW THE BALL, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!

Multnomah Falls, along the Columbia river, which divides the southern border of Washington state and northern border of Oregon. This cascade is just amazing to look up at and you can climb up to the top if you’re fit, but it takes awhile.

Kitesurfers along the Columbia in Stevenson, Washington. This was the path of Lewis & Clark on their way to the Pacific Ocean!

What else? Karaoke at the Elks Club on Friday night – This 70-something gal used to sing on cruise ships oh-so-long-ago, and could belt out a grand version of “I Cried a River Over You.”

Creeping down the coast along highway 1, in historic Eureka there are many lovely Victorian homes to admire.

Pulling over to the side of the road to a Sandcastle festival on the beach, north of Eureka.

The lovely town of Ferndale, on the Pacific coast – the site where many of the buildings were used in the filming of The Majestic, with Jim Carrey – the other town where it was filmed was north in Fort Bragg and Mendocino.

Avenue of the Giants through the ancient Sequoia forest – the roadway parallel to highway 1 – they’d carved a small house in the base of one of the trees (they’re THAT big!)

The Skunk Train runs from Fort Bragg east an hour or two through the Redwood forest, a classic steam train that is a familiar sound and sight in this sleepy little town.

The family’s cabin in the redwoods – our names all carved on the depot’s bench. The train stops if you wave by the tracks!

At the Guest House museum in Fort Bragg, this display was great! It’s a split log, with a crevice holding a cache of acorns buried over 750 years ago! The wood grew over the hole and entombed the acorns.